“I really did get just what I needed, and wanted. Emotions and trauma are stored energetically in the body.” – Sara’s story on her experience with Ayahuasca This sounds pretty interesting and as a solution for many troubled souls, but isn’t experienced without paying a price. The meaning of the medicinal drink Ayahuasca is ‘vine […]
Author: Public History Student
The Female Body Reclaimed: Dolle Mina and the Media
On June 24th 2022, the U.S. Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the right to a (safe) abortion as a federal law in the United States. Since then, a total of thirteen American States have restricted or prohibited abortions. The new restrictions range from a stricter time limit on when abortions are legal to […]
‘The Yellow Submarine is my trusted, mechanical friend’: Life inside the Iron Lung
It’s hard to believe that there are people who still depend on technology from decades ago to stay alive. Yet, this was exactly the case for Mona Randolph, an American woman who passed away in 2019 due to the long delayed effects of polio. She was able to use a wheelchair during the day but […]
‘My disability does not define me’: The prosthetic leg of Frida Kahlo
While many people might recognize her unibrow and bright color palette, most are unaware that the work of Mexican artist and activist Frida Kahlo (1910-1954) is deeply shaped by her disability. Frida’s lifelong struggle with her health eventually resulted in the amputation of her lower right leg in 1953. The prosthetic leg she used during […]
Hygieia: the goddess of staying healthy
Hygiene. It’s a word that we hear a lot in these times of pandemic and worries about our health. In order to slow down the spread of COVID-19, people are more and more expected to wash their hands regularly and take care of their hygiene. Hygiene itself, according to the website of the Rijksoverheid, includes […]
Golden Coach Revised: Changing perspectives of Colonial and Royal past.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic in June 2021, an new exhibition opened in the Amsterdam Museum: ‘De Gouden Koets’. Centred around a Golden Coach, the exhibition shows this artifact of the Dutch Royal Family as its centrepiece. Six halls around the square are filled with items related to the coach wagon, which was made public after […]
Forgiven yet not forgotten: Victor Spencer’s execution
Twenty-one-year-old Private Victor Spencer was the last soldier during the First World War in the New Zealand army to be executed for desertion. His death was scarcely mentioned afterwards, as the fact was a great shame to his family and country. However, the silence changed after 2000 when the Pardon for Soldiers of the Great […]
Unchained and revealed
Collars are for dogs. Right? For a long time, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam thought that the collars in their collection were dog collars. However, when curators started making the Slavery exhibition, they realized that such a detailed, fragile collar was not a dog collar, but was used on enslaved human beings. The brass collar consists […]
Not Mad Men in the office, but Madwomen in Asylums
Her forehead frowned, her eyes big and bulging, pouted lips and her hair black and stringy. She looks unkempt, worried, almost scared and wears a blue scarf around her neck. By looking at her face, inspecting every inch of it, you start to wonder whether she is doing alright; she looks panicked. You start to […]
Breaking habits: The Breathalyser
It’s finally back in business: the pubs are open again, people are dancing in nightclubs and the drinks are flowing. In the countryside, people are eagerly awaiting the fair and the whole of the Netherlands is hoping that carnival will be back to normal. This is often accompanied by the necessary amounts of alcohol, something […]